Creating shortcuts to MS Office files and folders is a great way to organize your content by providing multiple navigation points to the same document. Shortcuts eliminate the need to have the multiple copies of the save document in multiple locations.

With this method, when you edit the source file, all shortcuts will be pointing at the same correct version. Whereas, if you copy and paste the same document to different locations, when you change one copy, you have to remember to change all the other copies. That’s not efficient and prone to errors.

Creating a Shortcut to a File

To create a shortcut to a MS Word file, for example, right click the file and select the Create Shortcut option from the pop-up menu. Word will create a new icon with an arrow in the lower-left corner:

Once created, you can drag and drop this link to any spot you like, including your desktop or any other folder on your (Windows) system.

Creating a Shortcut to a Folder

You can create a shortcut for a folder as well. Drag the document icon to the left of the address bar to a folder or desktop and you’ll create a shortcut to the whole folder: